The Duke Nukem Platformer Pack

Duke Nukem 3D [official site] turned twenty this year, which means it can get away with drinking hard liquor and smoking cigars in a strip club legally in some parts of the world, but might not think that s as cool as it once seemed. Mr Nukem is actually twenty-five years old, however, having appeared in two platform games before his FPS adventures. Years of development hell later, he also appeared in Duke Nukem Forever, a game remembered more for its delays than its eventual release.

Today, we’ve been thinking and chatting about all things Duke, from wonderful level design to wonky nipples and weird space tigers.

Old Man Duke Nukem has gotten the band back together to show us disrespectful whippersnappers what for in Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary Edition World Tour [official site]. Out today (in a few hours), it’s a re-release of 3D Realms’ 1996 first-person shooter with an extra episode made by the old gang. Original level designers Allen Blum III and Richard ‘Levelord’ Gray have made new levels, composer Lee Jackson has musicated them, and ol’ Jon St. John is back in the recording booth saying movie quotes. … [visit site to read more]

They’re releasing another Duke Nukem, then. Gearbox are muttering to themselves and engaging in dreadful brandter so yup, it’s on. Predictions: the return of jokes already ten years old when Duke Nukem 3D borrowed them twenty years ago; an awkward attempt to reframe Duke’s earnest trashiness as ‘ironic’; a game hoping to coast on former glories. If rumours and leaks are to be believed, the new game is Duke Nukem 3D: World Tour, a ‘remastered’ version of the 1996 FPS with new content and ugly lighting.

A lot has changed in video games across my six years as a professional words person, but Duke Nukem has always been a shambles. In uncertain times, I knew I could always glance his way and groan “Oh no what’s happened now?” I feel a little lost now the legal troubles between old owner 3D Realms and the new Dukelords at Gearbox Software have wrapped up.

Gearbox, 3D Realms, and 3DR owner Interceptor Entertainment have issued a joint statement declaring they’ve voluntarily ended all the litigation, and that Gearbox are “the full and rightful owner[s] of the Duke Nukem franchise.”

Now Available on Steam - 3D Realms Anthology, 25% off! 5 May 3D Realms Anthology is Now Available on Steam and is 25% off!*

With 32 classic titles - which is almost every Apogee and 3D Realms game ever released - and a re-rockestrated soundtrack by Interceptor Entertainment's Andrew Hulshult (Rise of the Triad, Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded, Brutal Doom), the 3D Realms Anthology is your chance to kick ass in the past for an absolutely killer price.

Now Available on Steam - 3D Realms Anthology, 25% off! 5 May 3D Realms Anthology is Now Available on Steam and is 25% off!*

With 32 classic titles - which is almost every Apogee and 3D Realms game ever released - and a re-rockestrated soundtrack by Interceptor Entertainment's Andrew Hulshult (Rise of the Triad, Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded, Brutal Doom), the 3D Realms Anthology is your chance to kick ass in the past for an absolutely killer price.

Now Available on Steam - 3D Realms Anthology, 25% off! 5 May 3D Realms Anthology is Now Available on Steam and is 25% off!*

With 32 classic titles - which is almost every Apogee and 3D Realms game ever released - and a re-rockestrated soundtrack by Interceptor Entertainment's Andrew Hulshult (Rise of the Triad, Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded, Brutal Doom), the 3D Realms Anthology is your chance to kick ass in the past for an absolutely killer price.

Remember that legal battle between Rise of the Triad developer Interceptor (who recently ate 3D Realms) and Borderlands border/game license patrol Gearbox over who’s allowed to make Duke Nukem games? Yeah, well it’s still happening, and apparently it’s not going as smoothly as Interceptor anticipated when I interviewed them. From Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction‘s maybe-ashes has arisen Bombshell, Interceptor’s own top-down blast-’em-up starring a hard-fighting, harder-drinking main character. This one, however, is an impractically dressed lady with a robot arm… who just so happens to have recently robbed Duke Nukem’s supply chest/motorcycle garage/lion throne room. Trailer and first details below.

Oh gaming industry, even during the early year release doldrums, you never pull punches on good old fashioned drama. In the red corner, we have Rise of the Triad developer Interceptor, whose burgeoning brand roster now includes the smoldering remains of original Duke Nukem creator 3D Realms, and in the blue corner we have Borderlands developer and current Duke owner Gearbox. Gearbox, of course, is suing Interceptor because of Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction, a gum-assing, kick-chewing ARPG it doesn’t believe Interceptor has the rights to develop. But, in the wake of its 3D Realms purchase, Interceptor has told RPS that it thinks it’s completely in the right.